


Son I Never Had

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-03-06
Updated: 2004-03-06
Packaged: 2019-05-31 03:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15110792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: "'It was Dad's holiday.'  He paused, staring up at the tree."





	Son I Never Had

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Son I Never Had**   
**by:** Kasey

**Character(s):** Josh, Leo  
**Pairing(s):** None  
**Category(s):** Josh/Leo friendship   
**Rating:** YTEEN **Disclaimer:** I don't own them. Also - since we haven't yet seen the Christmas ep (as of when I'm writing this), it may be invalidated soon. Maybe not.  
**Summary:** "'It was Dad's holiday.' He paused, staring up at the tree."  
**Spoiler:** None  
**Written:** 12/05/2001  
**Author's Note:** THANKS: To Flip. For everything.  


I was on my way out when I found him. Sitting in the chair, staring up at the tree. And I was struck with this weird sense of déjà vu... only not quite. It'd been not quite a year since he'd walked out and I'd sat in the chair, staring at the tree and reading a newspaper, waiting for him.

So much has gone down since then. The MS, kicking off re-election, hearings... 

"Hey," I said as I passed him. "Go home."

"Wha?"

"Aren't you goin' ta... see your mom?"

"She doesn't wanna do Christmas this year."

"I'm sorry?"

"She doesn't wanna celebrate Christmas and since I've already missed going down there for Channukkah, she said it's fine for me to stay here."

"You've done Christmas all your life, haven't you?"

"I'm Jewish."

"I know that, I was at the Bar Mitzvah. But I know Noah used to talk about the Christmas trees and the presents and the holiday itself... I always assumed you did both... "

"Yeah, 'cause it... 'cause Dad was Protestant."

"Yeah, I thought that's what I remembered... "

"Yeah."

"So now your mom's decided-"

"It was Dad's holiday." He paused, staring up at the tree. "And the first year after Dad died we didn't do any holidays and the year after that I couldn't get off-"

"That's when you and Sam went to see Sam's friend about my-"

"Yeah, and then last year I was a little too busy with the... y'know... " he held up his hand and shrugged. "So I told her at Thanksgiving I'd come down so we could celebrate Christmas and she said not this year." He sighed. "Prob'ly for the best, it was bad enough this Thanksgiving 'cause it was just me and Mom and it... I mean, the head of the table was empty, so it woulda just been bad."

"Yeah." He was so close with his dad, wanted nothing more than to make Noah proud - not that Noah wasn't proud of him already - he was living and dying with every news in his father's medical case and all of a sudden... Noah was gone and Josh wasn't there. And he took of how much time? The week to sit shivah, which he only even took off because all of us insisted and because he wanted to be sure his mother was okay.

And you can bet he was back full-strength as soon as he arrived back on the campaign trail. Or so he liked us to think.

"So I s'pose it's... y'know... in the interest of sanity that we don't do the Christmas thing."

"Yeah."

"But hey, at least I didn't go crazy this year."

"That's a definite plus," I say with a smile.

"So at any rate. Donna's enjoying the long weekend anyway, and my apartment needs a lot of restraightening, so-"

That's what the guy's life has been reduced to for the holidays? Re-organizing his book shelves and dusting his tv stand?

Startin' to sound like me.

"So I take it you're not doing anything Christmas Day?"

"Nope."

"Seen Mal lately?"

He gives me a puzzled look like 'where did THAT come from?' "No."

"Me neither - I think she divorced me when Jenny did, but she's coming to dinner, at any rate, so... "

"That's nice." He gives a sort of smile like he knows it's nice and wishes his holiday could be nice, too.

"C'mon over and eat dinner." He looks at me, startled, so I continue. "Nothin' fancy, just... I was gonna make chicken or something for me and Mal, come over and have food and... watch the football game."

"Ah-kay," he says with his trademark Josh Lyman grin that makes the girls squeal when he smiles that way at them.

I can't help it - impulsively, I hug him... the son I never had.

"What was that for?" he asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"You looked like you wanted to hug me," I say with a smirk, and he remembers the joke - I wasn't sure if he would or not, since that came about five hours before he got shot.

"You read it right," he mumbles in that sort of sheepish way guys get whenever there's some admission of weakness. "Go home, get sleep."

"What are you my mother?"

"No, I'm the guy who doesn't want you falling asleep while you cook my food," he says with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah," I mutter, rolling my eyes. "Dinner's at 1."

"Kay." I'm already walking off as I hear him quietly add "I'll be there."


End file.
